Notebooking Safari – Russia and the Brown Bear

I’m so excited to introduce a new series, a Notebooking Safari! We’re going to discover and learn about dozens of animals that live in Asia. We’ll see them “close up,” learn what their habits are, and discover a few of the amazing ways God custom-designed them to live in their specific environments! These posts are written as if we were out in the field on a real safari. So, grab the kids and come along while we discover the animals of Asia! You can see all the related Notebooking Safari posts here. I’ll include photo, video, and fact links wherever possible and do everything I can to make sure these links are family-friendly. But, as online content is always changing, I recommend you preview the pages first before sharing with your children.

Our first stop takes us to the northern regions of Russia…

***

You had better stay on your toes while we try to catch a glimpse of our next safari animal. This is one creature you do not want to surprise—or get in the way of! It’s the brown bear, one of the largest carnivores you could ever see. Brown bears have a very large range that stretches across much of northern Russia, Alaska, and parts of Canada and the northwestern United States. And, like its range and the country of Russia itself, brown bears are HUGE. A male can grow to be 7-8 feet (2-3 meters) long and weigh 700 pounds (317.5 kg).

Let’s see if we can spot one. What’s that? You’re not sure you’re ready to go looking for one yet? OK, we can wait until a little later. They are usually moving around more first thing in the morning or in the evening.

I think God did an amazing job designing the brown bear. Did you know they can eat 90 pounds (41 kg) of food every day when they are getting ready to hibernate? Then, once they begin hibernating, they can go six months or longer without eating, drinking, or doing any of the normal things you’d expect an animal to do every day. People can’t do that. If we don’t eat and drink regularly, we can get very sick—or worse. But God gave the brown bear a special way to use the fat it stores in its body to keep it alive while it is hibernating. He even designed it so the cubs would be born during hibernation so they have as much time as possible before the next winter when they have to be big enough to hibernate, too.

*Note to parents: I do not recommend watching any videos of brown bears without carefully screening them with your children, including the ones on the page referenced above. Often bear videos include very graphic footage of the hunting and killing of prey.